CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — UW-Platteville junior Zachary Thompson finished 4-2 March 11-12 at the NCAA DIII national tournament, earning seventh-place at 133 pounds and a second career designation as an All-American.
Thompson was a four-time state tournament placer for Perry and followed his head coach, Trevor Kittleson, to Loras College. Kittleson moved from a Duhawk assistant to the Pioneer head coach this year, and Thompson followed him to UW-Platteville.
Thompson (19-9) defeated Luis Hernandez (4-3) of Ithaca College with a 10-3 decision in the preliminary round, but suffered a 12-3 major decision loss to 26-1 Dalton Rohrbaugh (York College) in the first round of championship bracket action.
He then won consecutive matches on the consolation side to stay alive, first scoring a 3-2 win over Zach Levey (23-9) of College of Brockport and then a 14-3 major decision against Luke Kowalski (31-9) of Gettysburg College.
David Massey (9-3) of the University of Mt. Union edged Thompson, 4-3, sending the former Bluejay into the seventh-place match.
Thompson drew Joe Pins (26-6) of Wartburg College and stopped the Knight, 9-3, to end his season on a winning note.
Justin Stammer, a former Perry teammate of Thompson, is a member of the Wartburg team. The Knights won their 15th national crown at the event.
